Family stories and research stories that tell the tale of my personal research. If you have a similar family line or want to know more. Please contact me!

Friday, January 13, 2012

John Dula Dollar

I’ve always loved the song Tom Dooley…I can remember hearing
the song with the Kingston Trio’s smooth voices imploring Tom to “hang down his
head.” I used to think that my great
great grandfather was named for Tom Dooley…but I doubt that the connection. My great great grandfather was named John
Dula Dollar…sometimes it is spelled John Dooley Dollar. I’m not sure what is exactly correct, but I
suspect that Dula might be correct. From
what I have read about the name Dula is pronounced Dooley and it is the
Appalachian pronunciation. It is
possible that John Dula’s parents knew of or knew Tom Dooley. That in itself is an interesting coincidence.

John Dula Dollar was born 3 Oct 1863 in Creston, Ashe Co.,
NC and died 6 Dec 1933 in Atlanta, Fulton Co., GA. He was the son of Alexander Monroe Dollar and
Elizabeth Pennington. Alexander Monroe
Dollar was a confederate soldier who served in the 58th North
Carolina Infantry which was one of the units that had the most desertions in
the Confederate Army. Tom Dula also
served in the Confederate Army and was in the 42nd North Carolina
Infantry. Tom Dula was from Wilkes Co.,
NC and Alexander Monroe Dollar lived in Ashe Co., NC near the Tennessee
border. Sometime in the early 1880’s
Alexander Monroe Dollar, his wife Elizabeth and three of their children moved
to Laurel Bloomery, Johnson Co., TN. Now…I
don’t really think that John Dula was named for Tom Dula but it is in
interesting coincidence…especially since the notorious murder occurred in the same
stomping grounds.

Tom Dula was supposed in love with Ann Melton (maiden name
Foster) and was also involved with her cousin Laura. He was carrying on an affair with Ann and was
supposedly engaged to marry Laura Foster.
Laura and Tom were supposedly going to elope and get married. Laura left with some clothes and her father’s
horse. She disappeared and was found a
few months later stabbed and dead with only the clothes that were with her to
help identify her. Soon after, Tom Dula
was considered to be the main suspect and he took off to get out of town. He was captured in Trade, Johnson Co., TN and
taken back to Wilkes Co., NC to be tried.
A local lawyer took his case and got the case moved to Iredell Co., NC. Tom Dula was hung in Statesville, NC in
1868. His lover, Ann was also held in
jail and considered to be his accomplice.
She died two years after Tom Dula having gone insane despite being
acquitted based on a letter that Tom Dula wrote that absolved her. Sharyn McCrumb wrote an interesting article
about that Tom Dula story which is an
interesting read and located at http://blueridgecountry.com/archive/tom-dooley.html

John Dula Dollar holding Sophia - Claude on the left and Bessie on the right. Probably taken in 1895.

It is a great story and became the stuff of legend and
song. I’m not sure that my John Dula
Dollar was ever quite that interesting.
John married 16 year old Buena Vista Bailey in 1889 and had three
children within five years. Buena Vista
died at the age of 21 about 3 months after giving birth to my great
grandmother. John left his children with
his father and step mother and went out to work. He married Cleopatria Josephine Gentry and
had 7 more children with her. He brought
his older two children to live with him and left the youngest with his father. John Dula worked as a logger and builder and
eventually ended up in Atlanta, GA where he died at the age of 70. John Dula was 3 years old when the murder
occurred and 5 years old when Tom Dula was hanged. I wonder if Alexander Monroe Dollar’s family
knew the story and if they did – did they find out by gossip or by
newspaper. I’m not sure which version
was more salacious. When I first did a
little a research on the story – I was surprised to learn all of the details that
were involved. If anything, the song is
a pretty sedate version of the whole ugly episode....the real story is a whole
lot more complicated and would be fit for today’s tabloid reporting. It certainly was a major topic in the
newspapers of 1868.